A museum in Tartu, Estonia, has sparked condemnation after a very unorthodox approach to Holocaust remembrance: by laughing at it. Among the exhibits is a scandalous video of children playing tag in a gas chamber, minutes before death.

RT has opted not to post any photos from the showing on ethical
grounds.

There are a number of exhibits at ‘My Poland: Of Remembering and
Forgetting’, which have aroused the anger of Estonia’s Jewish
community. Another includes a mock-LA setting, with the giant
word ‘Hollywood’ replaced by ‘Holocaust.’

The exhibition, set up to mark the 70th anniversary of
the liberation of Nazi death camps by the allies, is the first of
its kind in Estonia, according to the local newspaper Express. It
runs from February 7 to March 29.

There were upwards of 1,000 Estonian Jews who didn’t make it out
of the country and faced death in the camps.

Rael Artel, who curates the “celebrated exhibition of modern
art” at the Tartu Art Museum, appears to have a different
mission entirely than the usual approach to the Holocaust as one
of the most unspeakably dark chapters in human history. On the
museum’s website, he explains how the museum considers it its
mission to help artists see painful history through a different
prism in order to be able to talk about it more comfortably.

“Humor and irony”, according to the coordinator of the
exhibition, Julia Poluyanenkova, “is a way to overcome
trauma. The intention here isn’t entirely to discuss the actual
events, but to attempt to understand how the generations of us
that remain deal with trauma, with events that have traumatized
the human soul,” RIA Novosti quotes her as saying.

The statement on the site warns visitors that “the works
displayed may have a disturbing effect” on them, but that
did not shield it from harsh criticism from Estonians who
disagreed with the museum's chosen methods.

“There’s nothing fun or ironic about the holocaust. It’s a
tragedy, and this is inadequate and inappropriate,” the
local Jewish community told journalists.

“This is disgusting – plain and simple disgusting! I hate to
think how the relative and friends and acquaintances of people
kissed in gas chambers would react to this outrage, this
disgusting example of poor taste,” Efraim Zuroff, director
of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, told RT.

It is his opinion that the people staging the exhibition
“rethink their position.”

The shocking video of the children playing tag in a gas chamber
has been banned in Germany.

Here are just some of the comments from visitors to the
exhibition’s website:

"Is it art? No!It's a disgusting mental disease!" – Anna

"Utter moral degradation," - Vladius

Others were entirely sarcastic in tone, but likewise showed
disbelief at the brazen idea. Some of the commenters insisted
that freedom of expression is not an absolute, and that a line
should be drawn where it begins to affect the freedom of others
to be free of ridicule and derision.

One of the most scathing comments came from an Estonian
Russian-speaking citizen, Lyuba Yoselevich, who on her Facebook
profile had this to say:

“Imagine that it is your child’s blood being taken to then be
put into a German soldier. Imagine you and your sister being
raped, having your teeth knocked out, experimented on, then
murdered, while your brother – who can still stand – is being
forced to load their bodies, and the bodies of thousands of other
women, men and children into the incinerator… now laugh! Go on! A
lampshade made of human skin is incredibly funny, isn’t it!”